Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Michigan State wins 11th straight game
NO. 2 MICHIGAN STATE 102, LONG BEACH STATE 60
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Miles Bridges attracts a lot of attention on offense, drawing eyes as one of the top players in college basketball.
He’s only one of many Michigan State players defenses have to try to stop.
Bridges had 17 points and 9 rebounds as part of a balanced offense that gave the second-ranked Spartans a 102-60 victory over Long Beach State on Thursday night.
“Everybody is starting to get comfortable in their roles,” said Joshua Langford, who also had 17 points. “This team is getting in a great rhythm.”
Michigan State’s Nick Ward scored 16, Cassius Winston had 13 points and 8 assists, and Jaren Jackson added 13 points.
“You have to pick your poison,” 49ers Coach Dan Monson said. “You have to hope they have a bad shooting night. That’s why we zoned so much. It’s just so hard to match up man for man. That balance is impressive and you couple that with sharing the basketball.”
Michigan State (12-1) has won 11 consecutive with all the victories by double digits and many by 20-plus points.
“I need to keep hammering on the mistakes we’re making,” Coach Tom Izzo said.
The 49ers (5-9) trailed by just five points midway through the first half before Michigan State pulled away. The Spartans led by 16 points at halftime and dominated at both ends of the court to quickly turn the game into another rout.
“They pretty much carved us up,” Monson said.
Long Beach State’s only double-digit scorer was Gabe Levin, who had 14 points.
Ward was 7 of 8, coming off a 9-for-9 shooting performance, and might have went two consecutive games without a miss if Bridges didn’t pass him the ball for a tough shot in the closing seconds of the first half. He has made 68.6 percent of his shots this season. Michigan State’s season shooting record was set by Ron Charles during 197980 when he made 67.6 percent of his shots.
“I didn’t know that stat existed,” Ward said.
Michigan State’s weakness may be unforced turnovers. The Spartans gave up the ball 12 times against Long Beach State.
“That’s more of a mental thing,” Langford said.
With victories over Stanford and Oregon State, Long Beach State should feel good about its season so far. They can’t be happy, though, to have almost twice as many losses as victories.
The Spartans’ starters are all averaging in double figures, creating matchup problems for defense inside and out.
“They’re as good as they’ve been,” said Monson, who previously faced the Spartans when he coached at Minnesota and Gonzaga.
In other top 25 men’s games Thursday, Carsen Edwards scored 26 points, P.J. Thompson finished with 17 and No. 16 Purdue cruised to a 97-48 victory over Tennessee State. The Boilermakers (12-2) sealed the victory when they outscored the Tigers 32-5 during the final 14 minutes of the first half. Christian Mekowulu led the Tigers (5-6) with 10 points. … Gary Clark scored 18 points, and Kyle Washington had a pair of put-backs that sparked a late run as No. 20 Cincinnati pulled away to an 81-62 victory over Cleveland State. The Bearcats (11-2) struggled to extend their home-court winning streak to 33 games, the longest in the nation. Tyree Appleby had 16 points for the Vikings (3-8), who were playing their second road game in three days. … P.J. Savoy scored 17 points and No. 24 Florida State made 19 three-pointers as it closed nonconference play with a 98-45 victory over Southern Mississippi. Mfiondu Kabengele added 12 points for the Seminoles (11-1), who had 13 players in the scoring column. Cortez Edward, Eddie Davis III and Anfernee Hampton each scored eight points for Southern Mississippi (7-5).